Lonely. Sad. Lost. Worthless. Weird. Unlovable. Self-hate.

Above are only a few of the emotions I felt whilst being bullied.

I was bullied by the group of friends I had both at school and college. They teased me about everything, including the way I ate – going as far to give me a nickname that exacerbated this teasing. So I stopped eating because then they wouldn’t call me that anymore.

I was bullied by a boy at school. He would call me ugly and a dog nearly every day. Because I had never had a boyfriend and never been kissed, I believed him. So I thought if I was invisible no one could see how horrible I was.

Being bullied was one of the factors that led me to develop anorexia. If I disappeared, no one could pick on me anymore.

In reality, being anorexic attracted attention I didn’t want. I wouldn’t say I was bullied for being anorexic, but people did make a lot of inappropriate comments.

In my home town, a lot of people know about my eating disorder and a few know about my self-harm because people like to gossip. I have had people shout out things about me on nights out or in the street, yet now it doesn’t affect me as much.

I learned to accept being different. One of my favourite quotes is “I’m not weird; I’m limited edition!” Without sounding cheesy, I like being me and now I have survived anorexia, I’m certain I can beat anything that life throws at me!